A Birthday Gone Wrong Part 6
The Stranger Revealed
By Dave Church
Glenn took a moment to absorb everything that he was seeing, and make absolutely certain he saw what he thought he saw.
The person standing in front of him had purple, shoulder length hair, and pointed ears. Then, she threw off her cloak, revealing a red Zealian style dress, and a pendant around her neck. Her left arm was in a sling, but there was no mistaking who she was.
"Miss Schala," was all Glenn could think to say at the moment. There was an uneasy silence for a minute, and then Glenn spoke up. "I thought I watched thee die before mine eyes (Author's Note: Assume that Glenn and Marle were with Crono at the point in the game where the Ocean Palace was destroyed)."
Schala shook her head. "No, you didn't. I merely sent you away." She sat down on a chair opposite him.
Glenn tried to recall that moment, and realized she was right. "So how did thou survive the Ocean Palace disaster?"
Schala took a deep breath before continuing. "Well, it happened sort of like this:"
(Author's Note: In case you haven't figured it out already, italics in my stories mean thoughts or flashbacks. In this case, it's the latter)
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The entire palace was shaking. Schala was on her knees, clutching her pendant.
The prophet was on the ground, seemingly drained of his powers. The orange haired girl was sobbing, saying, "Crono…" over and over again. The frog was trying to comfort her amidst the chaos going on around them.
"I'll use the last of my pendant's power to send you to safety," she said, summoning the spell.
The prophet tried to stop her, saying "Wait!" but he couldn't say anything else before being sent far away. The frog and the other girl disappeared as well.
Schala sat there for a moment, and, imagining the dead boy could hear her, said, "Forgive me… Crono…"
She saw pieces of the ceiling start to fall around her, and awaited her death.
Suddenly, a light flashed in front of her, and she disappeared. The next thing she knew, she was on the Blackbird, with Dalton standing before her.
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"Dalton saved you!?" Glenn said, an expression of surprise obvious on his face.
Schala nodded. "I didn't know why, but he eventually told me."
Glenn felt no need to press further at that point, and changed the subject. "Canst thou do anything about her condition?" he said, pointing to Leene.
"She got bit by a snake, right?" Schala said. "Those things have been popping up everywhere after the temperature started rising."
Glenn nodded. "Does thou know what to do about it?"
"I know what to do about it," Schala said, "But I broke my arm, and you need both hands to do the procedure correctly."
Glenn was about to volunteer his services, but realized that any medical procedure requiring 2 hands would likely require 2 human hands. He sighed.
Schala noticed his distress, and changed the subject. "So, have you always been a frog?" she asked, curious.
Glenn shook his head. "I was once a human. But that was long ago. I was turned to this form by an evil sorcerer known as Magus."
Schala nodded sympathetically. "Why would someone do a thing like that? I think that man should be punished." She turned toward the door as the baby started wailing again.
"Excuse me," she said. "My baby's acting up again." Schala got up and left the room.
Glenn was confused. How would Schala get a baby? he thought, preferring not to think of the obvious method. Magus would be quite mad if his sister was violated.
Glenn wondered where his friends were for the first time in a while, hoping that they could find him.
This is turning out to be a birthday to remember…
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Crono, Magus, and Marle trudged on, burdened by heat and wondering about Glenn.
"How far can one frog walk?" Marle asked from the rear. The trio had been tracking the 2 sets of footprints- Glenn's and Leene's, they hoped- for a little over an hour.
No reply was heard as the tracks kept going. Then, they stopped as one of the sets of tracks stopped, and an imprint about the size of a human body was found in the snow. The other set of tracks came back for a bit, and then continued on.
"One of them was hurt," Magus deduced. He bent over and studied the imprint carefully. "Judging by the size of that imprint, I'd say it was the queen." He stood straight again, and motioned to the other two. "Shall we continue on?"
The group continued to follow the one set of tracks until they found a Glenn-sized imprint in the snow.
"Seems like he got tired here," Crono noticed.
Marle looked around, hoping for some trace of where Glenn and the queen could be.
Then, she spotted another set of footprints, coming toward them.
"Hey!" she said. "There is a set of footprints leading to where Glenn collapsed!"
She noticed that the trail turned around at the imprint.
"That's not all," Magus observed. He pointed at a seemingly nearby structure.
"It looks like the trail leads back to that house."
Crono looked up at the sky. "You mean where that ship seems to be headed?" he said, pointing at the makeshift plane that came out of nowhere to land near the house. "If one of them is hurt, and they're in the house…"
Crono had said enough, and started to bolt for the shelter that he thought held his friend. Marle was close behind.
Magus, disinterested, walked at a casual pace toward it, not knowing or caring about what or who was inside…
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Glenn walked into the room where Schala was cradling her baby with her good arm. She noticed Glenn coming in, and smiled. "He's a cutie, ain't he?" she said. "I never thought I'd have a baby…" her smile faded.
"What's his name?" Glenn asked.
"Though his father didn't like the name," Schala replied, "I called him Ian."
This would be the second time in a day that Glenn would have turned pale if he could have (Author's Note: Yes, the same, but younger Ian that terrorized our heroes in my first story). Schala sensed his discomfort, and asked, "Is something wrong?"
"No," Glenn said, shaking his head. Schala didn't believe him, but didn't feel it was necessary to ask further. "Who is the father?" Glenn inquired.
"Dalton," Schala answered. Schala predicted his next question by the puzzled glance on his face, and answered, "No, I didn't. One of his sick telepathic games went a little too far. This was not planned. I don't even like him."
Her answer satisfied Glenn, and he realized that he had a chance to change history here.
His train of thought was interrupted as a knocking was heard on the door. Schala stood up and went to answer it. "I wonder who that could be?" Glenn hoped that it was Crono, Marle, or Robo. Heck, even Magus would do at that point. He followed Schala and stayed out of view of the doorway, but close enough that he could hear what was happening.
He didn't like to take chances.
"Good day, Miss Schala. I trust you are well?" a man inquired.
Schala's tone was angry. "Leave, Tanner. The last time you came here, you broke my arm and tried to take my baby." Glenn turned so he could see the doorway, and saw Schala talking to a thug of some sort, with 2 men flanking him on either side.
Tanner had a scolding tone in his reply. "Remember, that is Dalton's boy."
Schala slapped him across the face. "He should have thought of that before he got me pregnant!"
Tanner fell back, and tasted blood. "Go in," he said. "Find the baby."
The two men pushed their way past Schala. Glenn jumped into their way, drawing his sword. Schala cried out as she almost fell over, but managed to get her good arm out in time to stop herself from hitting the ground. She stood up quickly.
"Thou must come through me first, villain!" Glenn shouted. He couldn't believe he was defending someone that in 26 years would almost lead to his demise.
Tanner grinned, and came into Schala's house. "Interesting. You must be Frog, the amphibian that is partly responsible for my leader's close experience with death."
He signaled the guards. "Take him down."
Schala took advantage of Tanner's momentary distraction to cast a Lightning spell. A bolt came down from the heavens and struck Tanner. He cried in pain, and lost his balance for a second.
Glenn swung the Masamune at the left guard, and the sword struck him in the stomach.
He doubled over in pain.
The right guard drew a knife, and swung it at Glenn. Glenn leapt out of the way, and delivered a kick to the back of the guard's neck. The guard went down to the ground, momentarily stunned.
Schala casted an ice spell on the left guard, freezing him in place. Tanner drew his sword and swung it at Glenn. Glenn turned around just in time to see the blade smack him in the stomach, knocking him into the wall.
The right guard, recovered from Glenn's kick, grabbed Schala from behind. Tanner pointed his sword at Schala.
Glenn got up off the ground, ready to fight, when Tanner shouted, "One wrong move, frog, and Schala dies." Glenn put down his sword slowly. "Wise choice," Tanner muttered.
The left guard, recovered from the ice spell, got up. Tanner ordered, "Get some more guards. I have a feeling we'll need them."
The left guard was hesitant. "What about our orders to retrieve the kid…"
"Screw the kid!" Tanner shouted angrily. He turned towards Glenn. "I'm sure Dalton will be pleasantly surprised at what we got." He laughed. He took the Masamune and put it in his sheath, keeping it away from Glenn.
The left guard headed out the door. Soon after, he heard a muffled cry of pain.
Tanner became alert. "What was that?" He turned to see the door opening, revealing a red haired figure.
"That was your assistant being incapacitated. Would you like his body returned in a bag?" Crono said sarcastically. His arms were folded in front of his chest.
Tanner stuck his sword up to Schala's side. "Drop your weapons. Now!" He ordered.
Crono seemed to be surprised, and intimidated. "Ok, just don't hurt her," he said, unsheathing his sword. He walked into the house, his hands above his head, as he dropped the sword. Schala looked like she had seen a ghost(In this case, Crono).
Tanner smiled, amazed that he'd won so easily. Glenn was amazed the Crono was beaten so easily as well. Tanner handed his sword to his guard, who still kept a firm grip around Schala. He held the sword to her side, ready to do something should the moment arise.
Crono sat down beside Glenn, keeping his eyes on one of the front windows.
As Tanner picked up Crono's sword, Glenn noticed that the window Crono was watching was open, and could barely hear someone coming around from the back. He kept his gaze forward to avoid attracting attention to whatever it was he heard.
Out of nowhere, Magus appeared behind the guard, having floated in through the back door. He snapped the guard's neck before he could react. The guard fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.
Tanner turned to see what was going on, and a look of panic appeared on his face. Then, he felt a pain in his back as something pierced through his skin.
Glenn looked to see that Marle had fired an arrow in through the window, hitting Tanner dead on in the back. He collapsed to the ground. Glenn went over beside Tanner, and took the Masamune back from him. Crono also reclaimed his Rainbow sword. He looked at the lifeless body of the guard on the floor, and said to Magus, "You didn't have to kill him."
Magus shrugged. "It was easier than the alternative."
As Marle came in the front door, Crono smiled. "Nice shooting," he complimented.
"Nice acting," she replied, a smile creeping up on her features. She noticed Schala, and did a double take.
Magus then noticed Schala, and Schala noticed him as well. "Prophet!" she said, getting up. Magus' expression softened at the sight of his sister.
Marle had a question. "Didn't you die in the Ocean Palace?" she asked, looking at Schala.
Schala explained the whole thing to them the same way she explained it to Glenn. She also explained why Dalton saved her.
Schala turned toward Crono. "And you? Aren't you supposed to be dead?"
Marle explained the whole thing about how they resurrected Crono using the Chrono Trigger.
Schala was amazed by the whole story.
"Oh yeah, his name's not prophet," Crono said, pointing at Magus, "It's… uh… Magus."
Schala's expression turned to one of anger. "You were the fiend that turned this man into a frog?" she inquired, pointing at Glenn.
Magus was hurt by those words, and said, "We weren't in the most cordial of relationships at the time," he replied, exchanging icy stares with Glenn.
"Things hath changed," Glenn said, looking to break the tension.
Marle changed the subject outright. "So what were these guys after?"
Schala replied, "My baby boy. Ian."
Looks of surprise filtered through the room, save for Glenn, who had heard already. Even Magus' usually cold face displayed some emotion.
Crono looked at the lifeless bodies of Tanner and the guard. "Well, whoever's in charge is not gonna like this outcome."
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End of Part 6
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